We all have issues. A strange sentence to begin talking about the incredible experience that a group of people from all around Europe had in a Greece city of Trikala. This Erasmus+ training course for youth workers “Let’s speak about it” brought together people with various backgrounds, age groups, experiences and so many different countries around Europe: Greece, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia and FYROM. The main aim of the project was to learn new ways on how to deal with difficult situations, how to help youth feel better while sharing our good experiences from our countries but also sharing our personal stories so that we could implement change back at home.
The project lasted for 9 intensive days. The whole training adapted non-formal education methods such as group work, simulations, light theatre method, discussion, coaching, open spaces, elements of art therapy, some techniques of mindfulness. This project also helped us gain better communication skills, strengthen our language skills and talk about our own personal issues. It was an incredible experience sharing and learning about the experiences of other countries and other participants, adapting new education methods. The experience that we had was something that gave us a good look on how mental health problems can influence a young person’s life, attitude, health and well-being. From what we learned during this time, the most important thing to do to get better is To Speak About It.
While coming all together to find the answers on how to help young people with mental health problems we managed to help ourselves as well. Speaking about mental health issues can help us to remember to take care of our wellbeing, teach us how to recognize mental health issues in our surroundings, help us to respond appropriately and act during crisis, reduce stigma and silence, and overall raise awareness about mental health. You can find more info about the project here: http://letsspeakaboutit.eu
